But what about Multimouse?
by Cochrane
Summary: Ladybug and Chat Noir discuss his favourite topic: Bringing back Multimouse.


Ladybug stepped on the empty rooftop, to where Chat Noir already stood. After yet another time battling - or really rather babysitting - a giant August, Chat had asked her for a meeting. She was freshly recharged and ready for almost anything… but she had a sinking feeling that he was going to go for the one thing she did not want to discuss.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about so urgently, Chaton?"

"Well, Mylady, it's about Mar–"

"And this better not be about bringing Marinette as Multimouse again."

"–rch. March. March is a month, with, eh, weather. Pleasant weather, you know, unless there's a cold front. Speaking of, you see these cirrus clouds? I think…" He trailed off as she just stood there with the most disapproving glare she could muster.

"Not again, kitty. I'm really tired of discussing this."

He smiled at her sheepishly.

"I know you're tired, LB. That's exactly why I keep bringing this up. We need more allies, just to lighten the load. Especially now, when you're the guardian and our old allies are exposed. Marinette was amazing! You really should have seen her. If you had, I bet you'd agree. The way she handled all those Miraculous at the same time…"

She shook her head. How often was she going to have to do this?

"I told you, she's compromised."

"But–"

"No! What if Hawkmoth finds out? I know you know her family. Her father, her grandparents, her uncle and her best friend have already been akumatized just by random chance. Imagine if Hawkmoth starts targeting her directly."

Chat's ears dropped for a moment. Maybe she was getting through to him after all. But then he looked up again, with determination in his eyes.

"You're right, it's a risk. But we need her! With her, we can defeat Hawkmoth much quicker, and then everybody will be safe. You said it yourself; her family is already in danger anyway. I'm sure she'd be happy to fight with us in order to protect them."

She sighed. The thing was, he was absolutely correct. But she could never tell him that.

"Besides", continued Chat. "Her identity is safer than Ryuko's! You brought her back, and I think that was the right call. I'm just saying, Marinette deserves a second chance at least as much as Kagami did."

That was the crux of the issue, wasn't it? She had violated her own rules, and now she was paying the price. And it wasn't even a surprise; part of her had known that bringing Kagami back was a mistake, but she had been too preoccupied to listen to reason at the time.

She really longed for someone to talk to about this mess. No, not someone. If she was honest, she really wanted to talk about this with Chat Noir. But that was out of the question.

"No, Chaton. Bringing Ryuko back was a mistake. Marinette cannot come back as Multimouse, and that is final."

Oh god, he looked at her with those big green sad eyes… She must have made quite an impression in the grey costume. It was flattering, of sorts, but also really annoying.

"Please just accept it," she pleaded. "There are reasons."

He tilted his head and looked at her.

"Ladybug… are you jealous?"

Her eyes went wide. Where had that stupid cat gotten that idea?

"Don't worry", he continued. "Marinette is awesome, but she can never compare to you. She's just a really good friend… why are you making that face?"

"Face? What face? I'm not making any faces and there's no reason for that!", said Marinette a little too hurriedly.

"Did… something happen between you two? Did you two fall out? Listen, you're both this cat's best friends! I know Marinette can be a bit over-eager and upset people that way sometimes, but don't hold that against her. She only wants everyone to be happy, and she works so hard for that! Whatever it was, I'm sure it wasn't on purpose."

Marinette didn't know whether to smile or pout at that. Yes, okay, she had caused the odd misunderstanding because she saw something she thought she could fix and forged right ahead without thinking… but that wasn't that often, was it? At the same time, his faith in her was adorable and heartwarming.

"Chaton, stop. I promise, it's nothing like that. Marinette totally agrees with me."

Technically not a lie, but a little bit of her still died inside.

"Wait, you spoke with Marinette about being Multimouse? Did she refuse? Maybe she's just scared. I know she doesn't always believe it when you tell her how awesome she is, but I think if we asked her, us both together, we could convince her."

She shook her head. "No, no, it's actually about… about…"

Damn, she was usually way better at lying than this. She probably could come up with something here. But she hated it. The whole idea behind Multimouse had been specifically to throw Chat Noir off of Marinette's scent. One big lie so she could lay off the many little ones for a while. What a colossal failure that had been. She should have known, really: What cat could resist chasing after a mouse?

"We need some kind of safe-word", she said. His eyebrows shut up. "I- I mean, not like that! Just, if I say, I don't know, Idéfix or something, then you'll know that you can't ask anymore, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're close to anything identity-related, just that you might get ideas and then those would lead to other ideas, which might be completely wrong mind you, and then there'd be a whole mess, and we'd get Alya to make this word a meme that everyone in Paris uses so that we can use it as our civilian selves, and then…"

"I get it, I get it. You can't tell me."

She gave him a tiny smile.

"I'm afraid so. It's a good reason, a valid reason, and you'd agree if you know."

His ears dropped.

"But I can't know."

She shook her head sadly.

"Marinette knows, though." It wasn't a question. "But I can't be trusted."

"Minou, no. You know I'd trust you with my life!"

"But not with the details of this job that we're both doing! I'm risking my life, just like you, but I can't know anything about it."

He walked away to the edge of the roof and sat down, turned away from her. It broke her heart to see him like this. She followed carefully and sat down next to him. He didn't react.

"Kitty…" She touched his shoulder. "I don't know if it helps, but I want you to know that I hate it. I hate that I have to keep things from you. I hate that I have this huge responsibility, and I can't talk about it with my partner. I hate that I can't talk with my best friend about this weird messy double life we're both having. I hate that I've lied to you to protect my identity, and I hate that I'll have to do it again. And I hate knowing that this mind-controlling maniac is just one bad day away from turning us against each other, so that I can't give you the trust you deserve. Every part about this sucks. I wish it could be different."

After a few moments, he looked at her with a sad smile.

"I know, LB. And I'm sorry. I do trust you, and I know you have good reasons for what you do." He laughed, but there was no humour in it. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to be so upset. Just… sometimes I let my heart do the thinking. I'm trying to keep it better under control. My dad always says I have too many emotions…"

It broke Marinette's heart to see her little kitty look so beaten. What kind of home life did he have that taught him such nonsense?

"Stop apologising. Don't get me wrong, it can sometimes be a bit frustrating… but your heart is the only reason why I can do this. You know that, right? Without you by my side, I'd have given up and Hawkmoth would have won long ago."

There was surprise in his eyes. She squeezed his shoulder tightly and continued.

"And once we've defeated him, we'll tell each other who we are, and I'm going to go your dad and have words with him. You are perfect the way you are. Especially your big heart."

He actually blushed a little at that. It was the most adorable thing Marinette had ever seen.

"And the puns?"

"Don't push it, kitty", she said, smiling.

He took a deep breath.

"I'll promise not to bug you about Marinette anymore. I trust your reasons. It's just… I've met her a few times, and I know she's so amazing. She's smart, but she's also kind and creative… and I don't think she knows just how great she is. I just want to show her that she's amazing, because she deserves it. I guess she doesn't need a Miraculous to prove that, though. She's already a super-hero without one."

Marinette tried her hardest not to blush. Damn that cat for being so sweet. She turned away, while Chat Noir looked at the sunset.

"Huh, weird. I got this whole revelation without any Akuma."

"Wait, what?"

"It's this uncanny thing: Every now and then, when I'm torn between a selfish choice and the right thing, there's an Akuma, and at the end of the fight I'll have learned to do the right thing after all. Did that ever happen to you?"

"Err… Maybe once or twice?" She pondered. Maybe it was more often. "I think fighting clears up your head. Gives you a new perspective. Telling your friend you accidentally deleted a file doesn't seem so daunting when you've just taken down a super-villain by dropping a national monument on him."

He nodded. "I sometimes get this feeling like every Akuma fight has some sort of lesson for us."

She scoffed at that. "What, you think Hawkmoth is doing this to help us become better people?"

He laughed. "Nah, Hawky is in this for some selfish reason. Like, he wants to rule the world, or become immortal, or sacrifice someone to bring back his comatose wife or something silly like that. But I think the lessons are there if we want to find them."

She jokingly punched his arm.

"Oh yeah? What was the lesson behind… say, Party Crasher?"

He grinned at her. "That one's really easy, milady. The lesson was that any party is better if Marinette is also there."

She looked at him in shock… and then she started giggling. She just couldn't help it.

"Okay, Minou, I gotta hand it to you, that one was smooth as hell. I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

He just smiled at her, knowing that he'd won this round. She sighed.

"Alright, kitty… I probably shouldn't tell you this, but… I promise you'll see Marinette as a super-hero again. Just with a different Miraculous."

He almost jumped up with glee. Damn… she was really glad for the Weredad incident now. At least she knew for sure that he wasn't secretly in love with her. And that was… good, right? Yeah, it was good. Definitely. One hundred percent.

Before he could say anything, she added, "There's a catch, though, which is why I didn't want to tell you: You won't know when, or who she is. Secrecy rules, I'm afraid."

"It's alright", he said, though he was clearly disappointed. "It's enough to know that she gets her chance to shine."

Oh, Tikki would be goading her all night about this one. Still, it was nice.

"I mean it, Kitty. You're not allowed to guess either."

"Awww… not even a hint? Like when you're planning to do it?"

She knew she shouldn't say it. She knew it was just asking for trouble. But looking at her kitty, disappointed and apparently starstruck, she couldn't bring herself to stop either. She stood up, threw her yoyo out, and patted his head.

"Oh kitty… who says it hasn't happened yet?"

"Wait–"

"Bug out!"


End file.
